No lawyer-speak. No forms that sell your info. Just an honest settlement range, the math behind it, and plain-English guides for what comes next.
Medical bills, lost paychecks, and repairs. Rough numbers are fine. You can refine them later.
From a sprain to a life-changing injury. This sets the multiplier for pain and suffering.
A realistic low and high, from the same math adjusters run. Every line of the arithmetic prints under your result.
The same multiplier method insurance adjusters use, in three modes: instant, a guided walkthrough, or a check of an offer you already have. Every mode prints the arithmetic line by line and applies your state's fault rule. The printable report is generated on your own device. No email asked.
Based on the multiplier method used by insurers and attorneys. This is an educational estimate, not legal advice. Every claim is different.
This is the multiplier method, the framework insurance adjusters and personal injury attorneys use to put a first number on pain and suffering. We didn't invent it. We just refuse to hide it.
( Medical bills + Lost wages ) × severity multiplier (1.5× – 7×) + Property damage − your shared-fault % = your settlement range
The multiplier rises with the severity and permanence of the injury. Your state's comparative-fault rule then trims the result, or in a few states bars it outright. Every assumption is disclosed on the methodology page — formulas, sources, and what the method genuinely can't see.
No agency publishes an "average settlement." What does get published is the average insurance claim payment, which is a different quantity: $28,278 per paid auto bodily-injury claim in 2024 (III, from ISO data), $25,915.56 per incurred claim in 2022 (NAIC), and a $24,000 median tort verdict from 2005 (BJS). We list every published figure with its source and its limits, and name the widely quoted ones that turned out to have no source at all. What you can actually use is the multiplier framework, applied here to one worked example of $12,500 in medical bills and $4,000 in lost wages:
| Injury severity | Multiplier | Example range ($16,500 economic damages) |
|---|---|---|
| Minor — soft tissue, full recovery | 1.5× – 2× | $24,750 – $33,000 |
| Moderate — treatment for months | 2× – 3× | $33,000 – $49,500 |
| Serious — fractures, surgery | 3× – 4× | $49,500 – $66,000 |
| Severe — long-term impairment | 4× – 5× | $66,000 – $82,500 |
| Catastrophic — permanent disability | 5× – 7× | $82,500 – $115,500 |
Your numbers will differ. That's the point. Put your real medical bills and lost wages into the calculator above and get the range for your claim, with the arithmetic printed.
No specialist is going to call you. Here is the actual path from injury to settlement, and how long each stage really takes.
See a doctor even if you feel fine. Documented treatment is what makes an injury provable, and gaps in it are the adjuster's favorite argument.
Photos, the police report, witness names, every bill and missed shift. Claims are priced on paperwork.
Run the calculator before you hear the insurer's number, so their first offer doesn't become your anchor.
Paste their number into offer check. If it's below the band, the printed math is your negotiation script.
Under about $10k with clear fault, self-negotiating often nets more. Serious injuries or disputed fault are a different situation. Talk to a licensed attorney before you sign anything.
Fault rules, filing deadlines, damage caps, workers' comp rates. Every figure on these pages is cited to the statute or agency bulletin it came from.
Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Texas calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Florida calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Ohio calculator →Modified comparative, 50% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Georgia calculator →Contributory negligence, any fault can bar recovery · 3-year filing deadline
Open the North Carolina calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Pennsylvania calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Indiana calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Oklahoma calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Iowa calculator →Modified comparative, 50% bar · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Colorado calculator →Pure comparative negligence · 2-year filing deadline
Open the California calculator →Pure comparative negligence · 3-year filing deadline
Open the New York calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Illinois calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Michigan calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the New Jersey calculator →Pure comparative negligence · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Washington calculator →Pure comparative fault · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Arizona calculator →Modified comparative, 50% bar · 1-year filing deadline
Open the Tennessee calculator →Pure comparative fault · 5-year filing deadline
Open the Missouri calculator →Modified comparative, 51% bar · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Wisconsin calculator →The full state directory: injury rules and workers' comp charts.
Browse every state →Understand your specific situation before you talk to an insurer. Or a lawyer.
Average ranges, fault rules, and what to do after a crash.
Read the guide →Premises liability claims and how severity changes value.
Read the guide →Workers' comp vs. third-party claims, explained simply.
Read the guide →Why bike claims run higher, and how insurers fight them.
Read the guide →Owner liability, scarring multipliers, and typical payouts.
Read the guide →When treatment goes wrong: caps, experts, and timelines.
Read the guide →What you'll actually keep after attorney fees, costs, and medical liens.
Open the tool →Multiplier and per-diem methods side by side, all math shown.
Open the tool →The 17c formula insurers use for your car's lost value, line by line.
Open the tool →What the IRS can and can't touch, under IRC §104(a)(2).
Open the tool →Comp rate × scheduled weeks × impairment rating. The chart, demystified.
Open the tool →Four questions, verdict on the page, no email, no callback, no "specialist."
Open the check →Each page maps the injury onto the same disclosed multiplier framework, with a calculator preset to it and the documentation that actually moves the number.
Every case links to the court opinion, and every one teaches the same lesson. The headline number is not the check. See the full verified case bank, including the honest reasons ordinary five-figure settlements never make the news.
Liciaga v. NYC Transit Authority (NY 2024). Permanent paraplegia, age 23. The jury's pain-and-suffering award was cut to $16M on appeal. Catastrophic cases produce the biggest numbers, and appellate review routinely shrinks them.
Read the court opinion →Werner Enterprises v. Blake (TX 2025). A nine-figure headline verdict, reversed outright by the Texas Supreme Court seven years later. Appeal risk is the reason plaintiffs accept settlements well below their verdict potential.
Read the court opinion →Johnson v. Monsanto (CA 2018). Punitive damages made the headline. Post-trial review removed most of them, though the liability finding stood. A gross figure is the start of the story, never the check.
Read the court opinion →Every settlement figure you will ever hear is gross. Ours too. Fees, case costs, and medical liens all come out before you see a dollar. Here is the subtraction nobody shows up front:
| Settlement (gross) | the number in the headline | $48,000 |
| Attorney fee | 33.3% contingency | − $16,000 |
| Case costs | records, filing, experts | − $1,800 |
| Medical liens | negotiated before disbursement | − $4,200 |
| What lands in your pocket | $48,000 − $22,000 | $26,000 |
Run your own numbers in the take-home calculator. Then see how fee structures actually work and who can claim a lien before you sign anything.
No email walls, no phone number, no 'a specialist will call you shortly.' Your answer appears on this page, printable report included.
The calculators run entirely in your browser. Don't take our word for it. Open the network tab and watch: from the moment this page loads, your inputs are sent nowhere. We couldn't email you your report if we wanted to.
Every result prints its arithmetic line by line. No proprietary scores. No black-box 'AI model' you have to take on faith.
It runs the same multiplier method insurers and attorneys use to anchor negotiations, and it shows you every line of that math. What no calculator can see is the strength of your evidence, your policy limits, and your venue. That is why the output is an honest range instead of a fake single number.
Because one number would be fiction. The multiplier method itself produces a band (for example 2× to 3× your economic damages for a moderate injury). Sites that give you a single figure have just picked a point inside that band without telling you.
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, stored, or seen by us. There is no sign-up and no email gate. Even the printable report is generated on your device.
Yes. Switch the calculator to 'Check an offer.' It grades their number against the multiplier-method range for your damages and prints the implied multiplier, so you can see exactly how far below the honest band the offer sits.
It's arithmetic, not a lottery. Take your economic damages (medical bills plus lost wages) and multiply by a severity factor of roughly 1.5× to 7×. A soft-tissue claim with $5,000 in bills lands in five figures at best. A surgical injury with $50,000 in bills can support six. Published 'average settlement' figures are marketing. Most real settlements are confidential — so run your own numbers instead.
Finish treatment first. That takes weeks or months, and there is no way to price an injury that isn't finished. Then expect 4–8 weeks for the insurer to answer your demand letter, followed by several rounds of negotiation. Simple claims resolve in 3–6 months. Disputed fault or serious injuries run longer. Our settlement timeline page has a stage-by-stage estimator.
Mostly no. Compensation for a physical injury, meaning your medical costs and the pain and suffering attached to them, is excluded from federal income tax under IRC §104(a)(2). Three things are taxable: punitive damages, post-settlement interest, and medical expenses you already deducted. The settlement tax calculator walks your numbers through the split.
One that lands inside or above the honest multiplier band for your documented damages, after you subtract the fees and liens. First offers sit below band almost every time. That's a negotiating position, not a valuation. Run the offer through offer check to see the implied multiplier, and never accept before you've reached maximum medical improvement.